Christmas 2013

This is the last Christmas post.  Promise! 

We had a wonderful, busy Christmas week.  Instead of having you read all the details, I'm just going to show some pictures.



Aunt Tina finally met Merritt!

I hope you had a fantastic and special Christmas!

Holiday Concert

Sims' class performed a holiday concert this year, and all of the families were invited.  Sims has gotten really into singing lately, which makes me happy.  He never wanted to sing much before, but he loves to sing now.  He even wanted us to sing Jingle Bells and Winter Wonderland last night.  I guess we will be singing Christmas songs all year long.

This year's holiday concert also included a Hanukkah song, which seems to be one of Sims' favorites.  He even wanted to sing it as we decorated the small Christmas tree in his room, and how could I say no?

Here's a video of the group singing Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.  When they get to the part when they are playing "instruments", you can imagine me laughing so hard I was crying because that's exactly what I was doing.



Priceless!

Christmas Pageant

This year both of our children were in our church's Christmas pageant.  It was magical, to say the least.  Sims was a shepherd, and Merritt was the baby Jesus.

It will be a couple of years before they are both in the pageant again, which made this year extra special.  Sims loved the shepherd's staff that he got to use, and he keeps talking about how he wants to be a shepherd again next year.  Merritt slept through her entire stage debut and looked like an angel (if I do say so myself).  It was a wonderful evening. 

October Recap

I know it's way past October, but I didn't want to forget all the activities that we (mainly Sims) did then. While Jason and I were busy taking care of newborn Merritt, Sims did all sorts of special things.

A week after Merritt was born, Sims' preschool took a field trip to a nearby pumpkin patch.  Thankfully, my mom was able to be Sims' chaperone.

The next week, Sims went to the state fair with my mom, Neely and Isla.  The kids had a blast, and Sims got to experience carnival rides for the first time.  He even rode a roller coaster!

Sims is in the front seat of his first coaster ride.  Brave kid!

Sims still wanted to visit the pumpkin patch we always go to as a family.  I think he didn't want to miss playing in the huge corn crib.  So we took a trip there with Mom and Smith.  There are no pictures of Merritt on this trip because she slept the whole time.  It was her first farm visit, but she didn't see a thing.  Next year!

For Halloween, Sims wanted to be Jake the pirate (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates). He loves pirates right now, and he had a great time being Jake.  It was also an easy costume for us, since he could use a lot of what we already had around the house.

Merritt didn't wear a costume, but she was still dressed for the occasion in her Peek A Boo ghost onesie.

Sims got to wear his costume to parties at our church and his school.  He really got into trick or treating this year and did a great job.  In a couple of years, he will have a trick or treating partner!

Big Brother Sims

Sims' transition to being a big brother has been pretty seamless.  There have been no signs of jealousy or disappointment in the fact that his baby sister can't play with him.  He has actually been excited about having Merritt here, and he loves her so much!

When he came to the hospital to meet her, he got to hold her in a chair.  We were all surprised at how long he wanted to hold her.  He watched her and touched her tiny nose and ears.  She was asleep the whole time.  Well Sims wanted to see her eyes, so he opened one of them himself and told everyone, "She has blue eyes."  He was so cute and gentle with her.

We often hear him say, "I love Baby Girl," or "I love Merritt Elizabeth."  (He likes to call her by her full name.)

Recently, he's started saying, "She's my favorite girl," and "She's my best friend."

He loves to give her hugs and kisses and try to comfort her when she cries.  He's also become quite protective of her.  When my mom was holding her, he told her to "be careful with her."

Sims is such a sweet, big brother, and we are so proud of him.  I am so happy that he loves her this much!

She's Here!

I can't believe she's already a month old!

 
Merritt Elizabeth was born on October 3 at 10:23 in the evening.  She weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. and was 20 inches long.  Since then she has been growing (and eating) like crazy.

So far Merritt has been a pretty easy baby.  She sleeps well at night, even though she goes to sleep really late (around 11:00 - midnight).  I remember that Sims did the same thing, but I can't remember when he began going to sleep at a more normal time (for old people like me who like to go to sleep early).

She's generally very happy, except during her witching hour, which is around 9:30-10:30 at night.  Jason luckily found her kryptonite though - the bathroom fan.  It will calm her really quickly, but it's not much fun for us to hang out in the bathroom for long periods of time.  I'm not going to complain.  Hanging out in the bathroom is better than a crying baby.

Sims has adjusted amazing well.  He is the best big brother imaginable!

I assure you that many more pictures are coming.

Last Trip as a Family of Three

A few weeks ago, we went on our last mini vacation as a family of three.  (No more travel for me until after Baby Girl arrives.)  We wanted some special time with Sims before the craziness of having a newborn is added to the family.  We let Sims choose where he wanted to go, and he chose Great Wolf Lodge.  He had been talking about our last visit there, which was a year and a half ago, a lot recently, so we weren't surprised when he said he wanted to go there. 

This time we only stayed one night, but we got there early to take full advantage of the 2 days of the water park.  We had a lot of fun going from one pool to the other, and Sims didn't mind being sprayed with water as much as he was last time.  Before we left, he even got brave enough to go down one of the slides from the treehouse area, which was the largest size slide he could go on due to his height.  I don't think he loved the slide that much, but he is already talking about going down it again on our next visit!  We were very proud of his courage to go down it!

Sims loved the room about as much as the water park.  He was so excited to be able to sleep in a bunk bed in a "tent".  He is still talking about the trip and planning what he is going to do on our next visit.  He loves this place!  It was wonderful having some special family time, and I'm happy that Sims got to go somewhere he was so excited about visiting!  That was the purpose, after all.